EDITORIAL: Thanks, Mr. Putin

We have to deny Russian strategic objectives, which are clearly to undermine Georgia’s democracy, to use its military capability to damage and in some cases destroy Georgian infrastructure and to try and weaken the Georgian state. We are determined to deny them their strategic objective. We are not going to allow Russia to draw a new line at those states that are not yet integrated into the trans-Atlantic structures. This is a very dangerous game and perhaps one the Russians want to reconsider. This is not something that is just cost-free. Nobody needs Russian strategic aviation along America’s coast.

— U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, en route Monday to an emergency session of NATO to address Russian aggression in Georgia.

We are making a list, and checking it twice. So many people need to express their heartfelt thanks to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for his invasion of Georgia. Here’s our top-ten list.

1. NATO. There was the world thinking NATO’s hour had passed, that it was obsolete. Russians were arguing this most furiously, of course. Then along comes Putin, and proves how indispensable it really is. The missile defense shield for Eastern Europe has a whole new life. Dreams can come true.

2. Ukraine. The pro-West majority in Ukraine was grappling with the pro-Russian minority over the issue of turning to the West. Now, Yulia Timoshenko and Victor Yuschenko have no difficulty convincing their country what the right direction is. Russian tanks have a wonderful way of concentrating the mind.

3. John McCain. One minute dismissed as “overreacting” to Russia’s threat, he’s now a soothsayer. Putin has breathed a whole new life into the McCain campaign, and made challenger Barack Obama look exceedingly out of his depth, weak-kneed and pathetic. Putin very well may have influenced the course of the next U.S. election, helping elect the man who is Russia’s worst nightmare.

4. Georgia. For all the world, it looks like Georgia’s Western-educated ruler suckered Putin into a grandstand play that polarized the entire world against Russia. In hindsight, it appears this was Georgia’s only hope of holding on to the Ossetia and Abkhazia territories; though small, to a tiny country like Georgia they are enormous. Within hours, he had the U.S. Secretary of State and the Germany Chancellor on Georgian soil, flouting the “might” of Russian tanks, expressing solidarity with his country. That’s assuming, of course, that Putin didn’t have the stones to march on Tbilisi — and so far (knock wood) he hasn’t.

5. The United States of America. Just when the world was getting really hostile to American power and there was talk of a pullout in Iraq, along comes Putin. He reminds the world what a really scary country looks like and suddenly the U.S.A. looks pretty good by comparison.

6. The European Union. Suddenly the naysayers must think again. Europe is suddenly very, very relevant, and European unity even more so. Europe has crossed the Rubicon by admitting many ex-Soviet slave states, but it was losing focus as Russia ratcheted up the pressure on the energy front. Putin seems to have overlooked the ability of his tanks to focus and unify his opposition, even to the extent of making common cause with the U.S.A., just as was the case during the first cold war.

7. The Russian Opposition. Suddenly, the illusion that Putin was respected around the world has exploded. From every corner of the world, Putin receives nothing but content. Sure, Russian access to this information is limited, but the opposition knows it all and some trickles everywhere. Suddenly, Putin is a war dictator — first Chechnya, now Georgia. That’s not the stability Russians crave. It’s a chink in the armor. It gives the opposition hope, something to work with.

8. Mikheil Saakashvili. First he weathers a massive Russian PR blitz to win reelection and a landslide mandate in parliament. Then Putin makes him a martyr, gives him the chance to be photographed with bombed-out children and old women, the world’s most important leaders at his side. He’s published on the op-ed pages of major newspapers, he’s a hero fighting for his tiny country’s survival against a thuggish bully, against overwhelming odds. He’s an underdog. The world loves him. Putin couldn’t have given him a better Valentine.

9. The U.S. military-industrial complex. There they were, all those folks talking about the cold war being over and the lack of any need for a dominant American military, a peace dividend, and so forth. Then along comes Putin with his tanks, and suddenly the world remembers that a proud KGB spy governs a dictatorship with 11 time zones and bristling with nuclear weapons. The Evil Empire lives! And nobody could have made the case half as well as Putin.

10. La Russophobe. Our traffic has exploded since the Georgia crisis began. Kim Zigfeld’s post about it on Pajamas Media collected a record number of comments for the author, over 100. Our message from day one has just been ratified loud and clear. We were right all along, and now we have the proof. And we owe it all to Putin.

Meanwhile anyone, like U.S. President George Bush for instance, whoever said Russia could be trusted or treated like a civilized nation now looks like a totally hopeless fool.

27 responses to “EDITORIAL: Thanks, Mr. Putin”

Just before the Georgian invasion to South Ossetia, Miss Rice visited Georgia and told Saaka: We always fight for our friends; however, the only “fighting” the Only Superpower did for Georgia media hysteria. After that, American hangers-on in Eastern Europe and ex-USSR should think twice as to what kind of protection alliance with the USA offers them. :)

P.S. Are you sure “a hero” should chicken out and run for his life although no enemy forces are in sight or chew his tie when on air? :) And I doubt the leaders of Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania who stood at Saaka’s side during the Tbilisi rally on August twelve are “the world’s most important leades”.

LA RUSSOPHOBE RESPONDS: Why is it that you are the only one who feels the need to decorate his “comments” with smiley faces? Is it because you have the maturity level of a six-year-old and know your comments are lacking in substance, so you don’t want anyone to think you actually expect to be taken seriously? Frankly, your vapid remarks make you seem like an utter idiot in our eyes, and we’re delighted to have the likes of you speaking up for the Putin regime. With friends like you, he doesn’t really need any enemies.

2NeonAlleyCat: According to Russian Emperor Alexander III (1845-1894), Russia’s only friends are Russian Army and Russian Navy. Since his time, Russia gained two more friends: Russian oil and Russian gas. :) Those who Russia thought to be her friends and “Slavonic brothers” have fled to the other side when times were hard for her, so we now know their real worth: a friend in need is a friend indeed. At any rate, they did not render any assistance to Georgia, and when their common “don”, the USA, starts to have real problems… we’ll see if they remain faithful to it.

c’mon russia’s got friends, don’t they??
oooops, i forgot, even lukashenko thinks putin’s a loser.
what happened to the warsaw pact???
feed your people, vovka, feed the sad and miserable old ladies in the perekhodi and metro. feed the unhappy conscripts that STILL beg for money all over moscow, who just want a beer before they go back to the barracks for another beating.
fix your sad country, with its superrich and miserable forgotten poor, before you tell others how to live.

2John: We don’t tell others how to live any more; we leave it to the great and mighty “Democracy Promoters”; as to the “unhappy conscripts”, they somehow managed to steamroller the supermodern Georgian army, equipped according to the best Western standards, in just 5 days.

Vanya, if I were in your shoes I would try to find a more reliable insurance company than the NATO. The only real fighting it did was an unprovoked aggression against Yugoslavia… it never had a chance to stand against a really serious enemy. :)

Yeah, Eugenya, the world already knows that your lot is pretty hungry for someone else’s shoes.

As far as NATO is concerned, it has always been quite successful in protecting my shoes and the rest of the Free World from the Russkie hordes. So successful, in fact, that all the Russkie oligarchs keep their assets under NATO’s protection. :)

Ivan, I hate to it to you but Eugene does have a point. In the case of Georgia, what we’ve seen up to now is not exactly sufficient in the sense of protection. Maybe the next former USSR blokes are a bit luckier.
As for the oligarchs using NATO a protection for their assets, well no. They just buy wherever they find expensive assets.

2seanquixote: the 58th Russian army units engaged in the Southern Ossetia and Georgia numbered 20,000 men; the Georgian army (equipped and trained by the US and Israel) – 30,000 men.

As to Iraq, was this damage (http://btvt.narod.ru/5/iraq2003/2003.files/image070.jpg) done to the vaunted Abrams tank by vibration or by a 50-years old Soviet RPG-7 grenade launcher? :) The USA managed to win over Iraq not by force of arms but by green papers with images of dead Presidents which were used to bribe Iraqui generals.

Cathy, I’m not sure if you realize this, but Georgia is not (yet) part of NATO. NATO is clearly off-limits for Russian aggression, that is why Russia has been opposing NATO expansion so desperately.

You are also wrong about the oligarchs: the Russian regime makes preservation of capital impossible, as Khodorkovsky’s fate clearly demonstrates. Those guys may be reusing the old good soviet anti-NATO rhetoric because this is convenient to fool and rob their population. They are trying to keep the territory they can potentially plunder as big as possible. But then they use the spoils to buy property in London etc., because they know very well that private property in Russia is a joke, as they themselves make sure it is in the first place.

Wait a sec according to your troglodites, we were selling them the WMD, and had the receipt.

Nevermind the precurser agent chlorine that we kept finding near munitions dumps, the 50+ mortar rounds filled with sarin, and to top it all off the 500 tons of yellowcake uranium that was supposed to be in Nigerian uranium mines, was just shipped to Canada.

If that is not enough proof, than you are still unable to see the significance of your own being.

I pity you, and I will mourn your children, and theirs for generations.

2eugene: if events had transpired as I chose, we would be in Iran instead of Iraq. I’m sure that you have notice that Iran is really not the country that we are trying to isolate.

The Axis of Evil seems to have a common trading partner. It may take a minute to figure out.

While I’m doing that, why don’t we consider the reasoning behind russian ballistic missiles in cuba all over again. Is it intimidation, is it the opportunity to take advantage of another know-nothing president once he comes into office, or is it your country is in financial ruin, and will sell anything to anyone for anything?

Ivan, indeed Georgia is not (yet) a member of NATO and this is in all probability for a reason. Considering Georgia’s contribution to the war in Iraq (well managing Iraq after the war to be more exact) and generally its loyalty towards the USA, the USA’s support for Georgia other than verbal has not been what it should have been, especially involving actual conflict with Russia. To expect NATO to defend its members is, in my opinion, sine qua non. Heaven forbid if it ever became an issue whether or not NATO would defend its members. My original post was about my conviction that NATO/ the USA didn’t really do enough for Georgia even as a potential candidate.

I would also like to ask something about those guys who may be reusing the old good soviet anti-NATO rhetoric because this is convenient to fool and rob their population. Who are you actually referring to? Because I don’t recall any billionaire in Russia using anti-western rhetoric or making any kind of political statement as a rule.

continued (sorry)
Ivan, I agree with you that Russians, oligarchs or less rich, move their assets abroad for safety but this has little to do with NATO least of all as a military alliance. They would move money or buy property anywhere where they would be protected be it a member of NATO or not. Another thing that makes me wonder is why if they feel so unsafe do numerous wealthy Russians (especiall7y those less wealthy and influential than the oligarchs) continue to reside in Russia (Moscow has some extremely expensive property) and purchase assets of value there (e.g. cars)?

eugene–you’re right—it was a great and historic victory for the russian army. so maybe the conscripts can be treated like humans, and not like dogs. that’s all i ask of vovka—let russians live like humans, and not like dogs that must beg for scraps of food and freedom.

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